
{"id":21126,"date":"2011-09-29T12:39:09","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T16:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=21126"},"modified":"2011-09-29T12:39:09","modified_gmt":"2011-09-29T16:39:09","slug":"carrboro-considers-denser-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2011\/09\/29\/carrboro-considers-denser-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Carrboro considers denser projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><br \/>\nCARRBORO \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0In a move that could lead to the approval of a mixed-use development with 102 residential units at 500 N. Greensboro St., the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 6-1 on Tuesday to pursue possible zoning changes that would allow greater residential density in certain projects.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed project, Shelton Station, is a two-building, 125,000-square-foot development on 2.7 acres at 404, 406 and 500 N. Greensboro St. and 113 Parker St. A three-story building would face North Greensboro Street with 24,000 square feet of commercial property on the first and second floors and residential units on the third floor. A four-story building, set back from the first and running perpendicular to Parker Street, would house 90 residential units with parking below them. <\/p>\n<p>For the project to win approval, the board must first approve a change to the zoning ordinance that would allow greater residential density in the development in exchange for mutually agreed-upon conditions for site and building elements to be met in the project. Conditions outlined in the draft of the zoning change include sustainable-building features, affordable-housing provisions, outdoor amenities and more. <\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the board of aldermen voted to draft the ordinance so that it would allow them to approve greater density in certain zones that at present require 3,000 square feet per residential unit. In addition, board members indicated they would like to require projects to include at least 25 percent non-residential development in exchange for the increased residential density. <\/p>\n<p>Board member Jacquie Gist voted against drafting the changes to the ordinance, saying she feared the change could open the door for previously approved developments to request increased residential density while reducing the amount of commercial space. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I understand that the current market is bad for commercial building, and I understand that the thing you can make the most money off of right now is residential building \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 but Carrboro\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term future cannot be determined by the current economy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We will be left with a downtown full of high density, up to five stories, most likely, of predominantly student apartment buildings,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If the board continues moving forward, I can promise that tomorrow morning the planning office will be full of developers wanting to revise their permits allowing them to build predominantly residential.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Other board members disagreed. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just think this is a reasonable tool to have on the books,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d board member Dan Coleman said. <\/p>\n<p>Board member Sammy Slade said he felt the zoning change would allow the board the opportunity to leverage sustainable building elements that can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be included in building code.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think if we use it sparingly, it could be a positive thing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mayor Mark Chilton said, noting that the board had heard very little opposition to the proposed Shelton Station project. <\/p>\n<p>Nathan Milian, property manager for Carr Mill Mall, said that while he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t object to the proposed project in general, he was concerned about the amount of parking included. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The scale of the project we have issues with, because they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t provide sufficient parking, and that is a big problem for us,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Plans include 189 parking spaces for the development. <\/p>\n<p>David Clinton, a member of the Carrboro Planning Board, said he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe parking would be as big of a problem as some might anticipate, adding that he supported the project.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think this development \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 would bring more shoppers to the area,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>The board will revisit the project at a meeting on Nov. 15. <\/p>\n<p>In other action Tuesday night, the board approved an emergency loan of up to $60,000 from the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revolving loan fund for property and businesses owners to repair the private sewer line serving the properties on the south side of East Main Street, from Armadillo Grill to Friendly Barber Shop. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted 6-1 on Tuesday to pursue possible zoning changes that would allow greater residential density in certain projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21126"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21127,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21126\/revisions\/21127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}